…My roommate Brian, sitting on the couch and playing video games. “Oh, hey, man,” he said without taking his
eyes off the television.
“Yo,” I said very casually as I walked in. That was pretty much our standard greeting. Brian and I had been
best friends since we were 8 years old. Now we were just a pair of recent college graduates just getting
started in our first jobs. Therefore we weren’t all that committed to them, since we were still unsure if
they were the right jobs for us. As such neither of us showed a lot of ambition. We shared a lot of the same
likes: sports, movies, video games and women. As it came to the last of those interests, we weren’t very
successful.
I walked into the kitchen, which didn’t have any separation from the living room other than a short wall which
doubled as a counter, and took the water pitcher out of the refrigerator. I took a glass out of the cupboard
and noticed that the ring made a soft clinking sound against the glass. After I poured myself some water and
took the glass in my hand again, the ring made the same clinking noise against the glass. “What is that
noise?” asked Brian. He looked annoyed as apparently the sound was enough to distract him from his game.
“Oh, it’s this ring I got,” I said.
“Got married and didn’t tell me, huh?” he teased. “Who’s the unlucky girl?”
“Ha ha,” I said flatly. “No, this old woman left her purse in a store. I ran after her and gave it back to
her before she got on a bus. So she gave me this ring and said it would grant wishes.”
“Yea,” said Brian. His voice told me he had no interest or belief in what I said.
“Only it did,” I said. “I wished for this girl’s clothes to disappear and they actually did! Then I wished
for them to come back and they did!”
Brian paused his game and looked at me. “OK, what didn’t I do?” he asked. “Did I forget the trash?
Something in the bathroom?” Unfortunately our apartment only had one bathroom. We also had a little game
where we’d try to prank each other if one of us did something to annoy the other or didn’t do something he was
supposed to do.
“No, dude, I’m not trying to get you,” I assured him.
“Then show me this ring,” Brian demanded. I held up my hand so that he could see it. He peered at it from
the couch and stated, “It looks like a piece of junk.”
“I know,” I said. “I didn’t believe it either. But let me prove it.” I thought for a minute about something
easy to do. “OK, here goes. Uh…where’s the remote control?” Brian held it up in his hand. “OK, put it down
and make sure you’re not touching it.” Brian complied with my request. “Now look at the TV.” Again, he did
as I asked. “I wish the TV would turn off.” Instantly the TV turned off. Brian looked stunned. Before he
could say anything I said, “I wish the TV would turn on.” The TV turned on again. Brian looked back at me.
His expression became more skeptical. I held up my hands to show they held nothing. “I don’t have a remote,”
I said. “So what else could have done it?”
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed. “Do something else. A little more drastic.”
“OK,” I said. “I wish the TV would disappear.” As quickly as you could snap your finger the TV was gone.
Brian looked panicked. “Too drastic,” he said.
“I wish the TV would reappear,” I said. The TV returned to its spot. “Yea, that was too drastic. But does
it convince you?”
“Well I know you’re not a magician,” he said. “So, yea I do.” He walked into the kitchen and just stared at
the ring. “Unbelievable. What are you going to do with it?”
I smiled. “Funny you should ask,” I said. “I came up with an idea on my way home. Do you trust me?”
Brian looked worried. “Of course I do, but the fact that you ask that question makes me a little nervous,” he
said.
“Oh, don’t worry,” I said dismissively. I filled up the glass with more water. “You’ll like this, trust me.”
I handed him the glass. “Now, I wish that you after you drink from this glass, you’ll turn into what I have
pictured in my mind right now, and that once you drink you’ll know what you are going to turn into.”
Brian looked at the glass and hesitated to take it. After a few seconds he did. “I suppose you know I’ll
beat the shit out of you if you fuck with me,” he said. I nodded. “Then here goes nothing.” He quickly
drank the water and put the glass down. Then he looked at me with eyes wide. “You’re going to turn me into…